The New Research Agenda of Examining Organized Interests in Post-Communist Policy-Making

Abstract: This paper presents new research agenda focused on organised interests in selected policy areas in the post-communist countries. In recent years, political scientists have made significant advancements in comparatively analysing the influence of organized interests in the political process. However, the post-communist region has been largely neglected. Instead, large bodies of research have focussed on formal political institutions, party systems and the Europeanization of public administrations in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The research agenda discussed here seeks to overcome this research gap by exploring the structures, democratic-participative incorporation and impact of organized interests on policy-making in four postcommunist EU members: Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary.

Bibliography:

Ágh, A., ‘Meso-politics in Central Europe: fighting with the infantile disease in Europeanisation and democratisation’, in: A. Ágh and G. Ilonszki (eds), TheSecond Steps, Budapest: Hungarian Centre of Democracy Studies, 1996.
Avdagic, S., ‘State-labour relations in East Central Europe: explaining variations in union effectiveness’, Socio-Economic Review 3(1), 2005, pp. 25-53.
Baumgartner, F. and J. Berry, M. Hojnacki, D. C. Kimball, B. L. Leech, Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Loses, and Why, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009.
Beliaev, M., ‘Presidential Powers and Consolidation of New Postcommunist Democracies’, Comparative Political Studies 39(3), 2006, pp. 375-398.
Bennett, A. and A. George, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social Sciences, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005.
Benz, A. and N. Dose, Governance – Regieren In komplexen Regelsystemen: Eine Einführung, Wiesbaden: Springer VS, 2005.
Bernhagen, P., ‘When do politicians listen to lobbyists (and who benefits when they do)?’, European Journal of Political Research 52(1), 2013, pp. 20-43.
Beyers, J., ‘Voice and access: Political practices of European interest associations’, European Union Politics 5(2), 2004, pp. 211-240.
Beyers, J. and R. Eising, W. Maloney, ‘Conclusion: Embedding Interest Group Research’, Western European Politics 31(6), 2008, pp. 1292-1302.
Björkman, J. and J. Nemec, Health Reforms in Central and Eastern Europe: Options, Obstacles and Limited Outcomes, Den Haag: Eleven International Publishers, 2013.
Bruszt, L. and D. Stark, Postsocialist Pathways: Transforming Politics and Property in East Central Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Cox, T. and B. Mason, ‘Interest groups and the development of tripartism in East Central Europe’, European Journal of Industrial Relations 6(3), 2000, pp. 325-347.
Cox, T. and L. Vass, ‘Government-Interest Group Relations in Hungarian Politics Since 1989’, Europe-Asia Studies, 52(6), 2000, pp. 1095-1114.
Cox, T., “Interest representation and state-society relations in East Central Europe”, Aleksanteri Papers 2/2012.
Crouch, C. and W. Streeck, The Diversity of Democracy Corporatism, Social Order and Political Conflict, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2006.
Dimitrov, V. and K. Goetz, H. Wollmann, Governing After Communism: Institutions And Policymaking, Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006.
Dobbins, M. and C. Knill, ‘Higher Education Policies in Central and Eastern Europe: Convergence towards a Common Model?’, Governance 22(3), 2009, pp. 397-430.
Dobbins, M., Higher Education Policies in Central and Eastern Europe: Convergence towards a common model?, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2011.
Dür, A. and D. De Bièvre, ‘The Question of Interest Group Influence’, Journal of Public Policy 27(1), 2007, pp. 1-12.
Dür, A., ‘Interest Groups in the EU and how powerful are they?’, West European Politics 31(6), 2008.
Duvanova, D., ‘Interest groups in post-communist countries: a comparative analysis of business and employer associations’, PhD Thesis, Ohio State University, 2007.
Easter, G., ‘Preference for presidentialism: Postcommunist regime change in Russia and the NIS’, World Politics 45, 1997, pp. 184-211.
Eising, R., ‘Institutional context, organizational resources and strategic choices explaining interest group access in the EU’, European Union Politics 8(3), 2007, pp. 329-362.
Eising, R., ‘Interest Groups in EU Policy-Making’, Living Reviews in European Governance 3(4), 2008, pp. 4-32.
Fink-Hafner, D., ‘Interest Representation in Post-Communist Parliaments over Two Decades’, Journal of Legislative Studies 17(2), 2011, pp. 215-233.
Fink-Hafner, D., ‘Organized interests in the policy-making process in Slovenia’, Journal of European Public Policy 5(2), 1998, pp. 285-302.
Grabbe, H., ‘How does Europeanization affect CEE governance? Conditionality, Diffusion and Diversity’, Journal of European Public Policy 8(6),2001, pp. 1013-1031.
Grande, E., ‘The State and Interest Groups in a Framework of Multi-Level Decision Making: The Case of the European Union’, Journal of European Public Policy 3(3), 1996, pp. 318-338.
Hall, P. and D. Soskice, ‘An Introduction to Varieties of Capitalism’, in: P. A. Hall and D. Soskice (eds), Varieties of Capitalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001, pp. 1-68.
Hannan, M. and J. Freemann, ‘The Population Ecology of Organizations’, American Journal of Sociology 82(5), 1977, pp. 929-964.
Hellman, J., ‘Winners take all: The politics of partial reform in post-communist transitions’, World Politics 50(2), 1998, pp. 203-234.
Howard, M. D., The Weakness of Civil Society in Post-Communist Europe, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Ikstens, J. and M. Pinto-Duschinsky, D. Smilov, M. Walecki, ‘Political finance in Central Eastern Europe: an interim report’, Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft 31(1), 2002, pp. 21-39.
Kitschelt, H. and Z. Mansfeldova, R. Markowski, G. Toka, Post-Communist Party Systems, Competition, Representation, and Inter-Party Cooperation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Klüver, H., ‘Lobbying as a collective enterprise: Winners and losers of policy formulation in the European Union’, Journal of European Public Policy 14(3), 2012, pp. 59-76.
Knill, C. and D. Lehmkuhl, ‘How Europe Matters: Different Mechanisms of Europeanization’, European Integration Online Papers 3(7), 1999.
Krouwel, A., ‘Measuring presidentialism of Central and East European countries’, Working Papers Political Science no. 02/2003.
Lasswell, H., Politics: Who Gets What, When, How, Cleveland: Whittlesey House, 1936.
Lewis, P., ‘Party systems in Post-communist Central Europe: patterns of stability and consolidation’, Democratization 13(4), 2006, pp. 562-583.
Lohmann, S., ‘An Information Rationale for the Power of Special Interests’, American Political Science Review 92(4), 1998, pp. 809-827.
Lowery, D., ‘Lobbying influence: Meaning, measurement and missing’, Interest Groups and Advocacy 2(1), 2013, pp. 1-26.
Mahoney, C., ‘Lobbying success in the United States and the European Union’, Journal of Public Policy 27(1), 2007, pp. 35-56.
Mahoney, C., ‘The power of institutions: state and interest groups activity in the European Union’, European Union Politics 5(4), 2004, pp. 441-466.
Martinsen, D. S. and K. Vrangbæk, ‘The Europeanization of Health Care Governance: Implementing the market imperatives of Europe’, Public Administration 86(1), 2008, pp. 169-184.
McAllister, I. and S. White, ‘Political Parties and Democratic Consolidation in Post-Communist Societies’, Party Politics 13(2), 2007, pp. 197-216.
McGrath, C., ‘The development and regulation of lobbying in the new member states of the European Union’, Journal of Public Affairs 8(1), 2008, pp. 15-32.
Miller, L., The Perils of Federalism: Race, Poverty and the Politics of Crime Control, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008.
Olson, M., The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1965.
Ost, D., ‘Illusory Corporatism in Eastern Europe: Neoliberal Tripartism and Postcommunist Class Identities’, Politics and Society 28(4), 2000, pp. 503-530.
Pedersen, O. and C. Ronit, J. Hausner, ‘Organized Interests and the Labor Market in Post-Communist Europe’, American Behavioral Scientist 38(5), 1995, pp. 741-759.
Pérez-Solórzano Borragán, N., ‘EU Accession and Interest Politics in Central and Eastern Europe’, Perspectives on European Politics and Society 5(2), 2004, pp. 243-272.
Pleines, H., ‘Social partners and captors. The role of non-state actors in economic policy-making in Eastern Europe’, Romanian Journal of Political Science 4(1), 2004, pp. 51-65.
Pleines, H., ‘Weakness as precondition of smooth integration?’, Journal of European Integration 33(4), 2011, pp. 507-521.
Pollack, M. A., ‘Representing diffuse interests in EC policy-making’, Journal of European Public Policy 4(4), 1997, pp. 572-590.
Ramet, S., Central and southeast European politics since 1989, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Rechel, B. and M. McKee, ‘Health reform in central and eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union’, The Lancet 374, 2009, pp. 1186-1195.
Richardson, J., ‘Government, Interest Groups and Policy Change’, Political Studies 48, 2000, pp. 1006-1025.
Riedel, R., ‘European Patient’s Cross Border Mobility Directive’, Public Health 139, 2016, pp. 222-223.
Riedel, R., ‘Europeanisation as a Research Strand in EU Studies’, Studia Europejskie 2(46), 2008, pp. 209-222.
Riedel, R., ‘Political Economy of the Emission Reduction Measures’, Central European Political Studies (3), 2015, pp. 27-43.
Riedel, R., Supranationalisation of Energy Security In Europe. Theoretical Approaches, Warszawa: Centrum Europejskie Natolin, no. 40, 2010.
Roberts, A., ‘The Politics of Healthcare Reform in Postcommunist Europe: The Importance of Access’, Journal of Public Policy 29:3, 2009, pp. 305-325.
Rose, R., Understanding Post-Communist Transformation: A bottom-up approach, Routledge, 2008.
Rose-Ackerman, S., ‘From Elections to Democracy in Central Europe: Public Participation and the Role of Civil Society’, East European Politics and Societies 21(1), 2007, pp. 31-47.
Schmitter, P., ‘The consolidation of democracy and representation of social groups’, American Behavioral Scientist 35(4-5), 1992, pp. 422-449.
Siaroff, A., ‘Corporatism in 24 Industrial Democracies’, European Journal of Political Research 36(2), 1999, pp. 175-205.
Sprūds, A., Latvian energy policy: towards a sustainable and transparent energy sector, Riga: Soros Foundation Latvia, 2010.
Streeck, W. and P. Schmitter, The organization of business interests: Studying the associative action of business in advanced industrial societies, Cologne: Max-Planck-Institut, 1999.
Šimral, V., The funding and oversight of Political Parties and Electoral Campaigns in Central and Eastern Europe, Prague: Frank Bold, 2015.
Wallace, C. and F. Pichler, C. Haerpfer, ‘Changing Patterns of Civil Society in Europe and America 1995-2005’, East European Politics and Society 26(3), 2012, pp. 3-19.
Weßels, B., ‘Contestation Potential of Interest Groups in the EU: Emergence, Structure, and Political Alliances’, in: G. Marks and M. R. Steenbergen (eds), European Integration and Political Conflict, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 195-215.